Menu

In the News

Non-Profit Hospitals and the Health of Surrounding Communities

Access to affordable, high-quality health care is critical in creating healthier populations. Yet much of what makes people healthy is determined outside the doctor’s office—from education and housing to safety and healthy food access. What role should hospitals play in improving these social determinants of health? PHI President and CEO Mary Pittman joined WCPN's The Sound of Ideas program to discuss why hospitals are getting into the "zip code improvement business" and why community conditions such as safe streets and healthy housing are critical to health.

children in school

Access to affordable, high-quality health care is critical in creating healthier populations. Yet much of what makes people healthy is determined outside the doctor’s office—from education and housing to safety and healthy food access. What role should hospitals play in improving these social determinants of health?

PHI President and CEO Mary Pittman joined WCPN’s The Sound of Ideas program to discuss why hospitals are getting into the “zip code improvement business” and why community conditions such as safe streets and healthy housing are critical to health:

“In addition to often being a major employer in a community, hospitals often are also working very closely with local schools, public health and other organizations to get at the root causes of illness. Access to healthy food, the ability to have a safe place to exercise, reducing the stressors that come from living in a highly charged, violent community—these are now clearly linked to poor health outcomes. We need to shift the paradigm and say that continuing to invest just in patching people up is not the cost effective or morally effective thing to do.”

Additional guests on The Sound of Ideas radio program included:

  • Dan Diamond, POLITICO reporter
  • Heidi Gartland, Vice President of Government Relations, University Hospitals
  • Vicki Johnston, Director of Community Outreach, Cleveland Clinic
  • Dr. Eileen Seeholzer, MetroHealth
  • Denise VanLeer, Executive Director, Fairfax Renaissance

Listen to the full program here.

Originally published by WCPN's The Sound of Ideas


More Updates

Work With Us

You change the world. We do the rest. Explore fiscal sponsorship at PHI.

Bring Your Work to PHI

Support Us

Together, we can accelerate our response to public health’s most critical issues.

Donate

Find Employment

Begin your career at the Public Health Institute.

See Jobs

Mural and kids' paintings hanging on a fence at a playground

Close

New Public Health Primer: Engaging Community Development for Health Equity

How can the public health and community development sectors to work together to advance health and racial equity? A new primer from PHI’s Build Healthy Places Network and partners provides a roadmap for forging upstream partnerships, with recommendations, strategies and lessons-learned from national, state and local leaders.

Explore the primer

Continue to PHI.org